“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.” -Buddha***
We mortals are composed of two great schools--Enlightened knaves or else religious fools.
--Abul 'Ala al Ma'arri (973-1057)***
"Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!" -Auntie Mame
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Philosophy, History, Travel, the Arts, Whatever's on my Table...

Friday, July 02, 2010

Indifference

Firewoks4th of julyAtlanta 2007Photo by Jack

As the 4th of July arrives, patriotism is on the wane. What exactly is there to be patriotic about? The Afghan war drags on in a quagmire of corruption and opium-- with crates of cash disappearing daily. The quagmire in the Gulf of Mexico is killing wildlife and destroying a way of life going back generations. There are nearly two million unemployed workers whose benefits will end thanks to a Republican filibuster in the disfunctional Senate. The tea bag party is a farce of early 19th Century attitudes that allows unchecked corruption by corporations including the one that is killing a good portion of the U.S. and the planet. Our Supreme Court is 5/9 owned and run by corporate interests-- thanks in part to the two appointments by oil men Bush and Cheney. There is no Green Party at all and way too few Progressive Dems. to elect. As many of us hold hands on beaches in protest of bad energy policy and off-shore drilling, Obama's hands appear to be tied. We want fireworks, not just a 4th of July show, but a spark of fervor that will bring the reforms we wanted in Nov. 2008.

For now, I can only muster a Diogenes-like response. I'll sit in my bathtub and forget about quagmires for the weekend. I'll watch the fireworks above the Mississippi River in New Orleans. My Epicurean garden awaits me by the pool in the courtyard in the French Quater. Maybe a touch of Buddhist detachment will let the universe adjust.Indifference, though, is our nation's problem, not the answer.